Amazon in Talks to Make ‘Lord of the Rings’ Next ‘Game of Thrones’

Every morning, we have an editorial meeting where we pitch ideas and figure out what we’ll be writing that day. When I stumbled on this, y’all, I gasped. Audibly gasped. Interrupted whatever conversation we were having and made everyone stop and look.

Some of my Lord of the Rings cred: I’ve seen The Fellowship of the Ring over one hundred times and read the trilogy upwards of ten. My favorite “prank” is to invite whoever over for a sleepover movie night then trick them into an eleven hour and thirty-seven minute (without credits) screening of all three extended editions.

So when I say I’m absolutely losing my shit over here, believe me.

Gif via Word Press

Warner Bros. Television and J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate are in talks to develop a series based on The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Amazon Studios has emerged victorious as the frontrunner. Sources told Variety that Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, is personally involved in negotiations, which are in very early stages.

Bezos doesn’t typically get involved with making deals for Amazon Studios, but following the departure of some key players – president Roy Price (sexual harassment allegation, yikes), head of scripted Joe Lewis, and head of unscripted Conrad Riggs – the fantasy and sci-fi fan had no choice but to step in.

The fight for a Lord of the Rings series is quite on brand for Amazon Studios, especially after Bezos’ new mandate, shifting programming away from “niche naturalistic series and towards large-scale genre programming with potential for broad international appeal.”

If you’re wondering “why now?” – in July, Warner Bros. and Tolkien’s estate settled an ongoing lawsuit from 2012. Tolkien’s family and HarperCollins were suing Warner Bros. due to use of characters in a variety of online games, including gambling.

I could not be more psyched. After the disappointment that was The Hobbit movies, I’m jonesing for more Lord of the Rings content, and considering how fantastic Amazon Studios has been lately, I can’t wait to see what they’ll produce. Of course, that’s assuming the deal goes through and this comes out before 2025.

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